Walt Disney World, while beloved and favored by many visitors, also is
noted for television programs that actually are little more than blatant
commercials. So, it's no
big surprise to discover that the home page of the official
WDW web site
contains a highly annoying problem. When you use the back button to return
to where you came from, and depending on how your browser stores pages in
memory, you may be recycled back to the page you are trying to leave.
Sometimes you can override it with a well-timed series of "back" clicks but
if that fails, be prepared to close your browser in order to get off the
site.

Fortunately,
other web sites that focus on Walt Disney World and its affiliates know how to treat a
(computer) mouse better than Mickey does. Thousands of web pages have grown up around the
Magic Kingdom. Some are as entertaining as they are informative and rich in links to
related resources.

There's Intercot:
A Virtual Guide which offers free videos,
sound tracks and snap shots of Disney World's attractions. One of those videos displays
the spectacular Spectromagic nighttime parade of marchers in brilliantly flashing
costumes. Intercot is admirably well laid out and easy to navigate.

Then there's the delightfully wacky Hidden
Mickeys site. As the intro explains,
"Hidden Mickeys started out as inside jokes among the Walt Disney Imagineers (the
park's engineers). A Hidden Mickey is an image of Mickey Mouse concealed in the design of
a Disney attraction (ride, resort, etc...)" Add your sightings to the list.

Some web pages that represent Disney properties are not linked
through the official home page, but once found, they make enticing offers. Disney's Swan
and Dolphin Hotel has reopened after a $15
million renovation. The What's New page announces an optional Disney pass that allows
guests extra hours of rides after "regular" park visitors have been shooed out
for the night.

Mining Company's Robert Brown has found a rich vein of info
about The Magic Kingdom. In addition to sound advice on saving money while getting the
best out of your WDW experience, Brown also has unearthed an impressive gold mine of
details about non-Disney attractions in the Orlando area.

But not
every site that claims it's about Disney World actually is. One that bills itself under
various web addresses as "Disney Nation" and "Walt Disney World 4
Adults" is mostly one screen after another about a guidebook it wants to sell you.
Aside from the site's lack of coherent design, it's banners and boxes constantly nag you
to buy the book. Fortunately, the democracy of the Internet delivers more free information
than this book promises. I'm not even bothering to list the web address.

The Raymond
Family's enthusiasm for Disney World
expresses itself in an affectionate and wide-ranging web site. This one's packed to the
roof with useful links but would be easier to use if sections were presented as separate
pages accessed by a menu instead of long, one-page scrolls.

If you
encounter the problem I had in clicking on some of Raymond's enticing icon-links, here's a
tip. Place your cursor over a non-functioning icon. When it changes to a pointing finger,
click the right button of your Windows mouse. From the pop-up menu select "copy
shortcut". The menu will close. Highlight the current address in the box at the top
of your browser. Click right button and select "paste." This will replace the
highlighted address with the one you just copied. Finally, touch Enter on your keyboard.

That's how I got to the Friends of Disney Alliance where one fan is building a growing
database of Disney-related web sites. That same "copy shortcut" trick also got
me into the delights of the Disney Web Ring.

-30-

(note:
The material that appears below may or may not have been published in your local newspaper
depending on the available space in this week's edition.)

Walt Would Have Loved
These Sites:

A Pansophist's Disney WorldThese folks love WDW and want you to, as well. The
curmudgeon in me wants to quibble over the home-made graphics, but the child in me says,
"Shut up old man, relax and enjoy yourself for a change." That's good advice
because this site is the next best thing to having an in-law in Orlando. You put up with a
few inconveniences, sleep on the fold-out and hope they don't believe in the old Irish
expression, "After three days, guests from
out-of-town and fish begin to stink."

Who Really Built WDW?
Here's a rare peek behind the scenes at the source of the magic in the Magic Kingdom.

Disney
Collectors
On this site "information" becomes "Earformation" and
"miscellaneous" is "mouselaneous." Buy, sell, swap and discuss
everything from that Mickey Mouse watch to an original set of ears.

Expedia's
Disney Guide
This online travel division of MicroSoft has a web section devoted to all things Walt
Disney.